If there is one thing that correspondents across Africa agree on, it's that decisive action is needed now to end the bloodshed in Kenya. But, looking at the coverage, it's clear that the causes and likely implications of the violence are still up for debate.

Post-election violence in Kenya, generally seen as a stable country, has left over 300 people dead and displaced around 250,000 others. The crisis has taken many - in Kenya, Africa, and beyond - by surprise.

Daudi Were, a blogger from Nairobi writing on allAfrica.com says the most shocking thing for most Kenyans has been the speed with which events have escalated. With no expectation of violence, there was no contingency plan in place.

But unlike the political classes, ordinary Kenyans have sprung into action, he says, working together with community based organisations and international agencies to help those caught up in the violence.

He is at great pains to point out that this is a political crisis, rather than being ignited by long standing economic inequalities and ethnic tensions.

Not all bloggers agree. The Nairobi-based blogger on thinkersroom.com talks about how the last five years of political and economic events in Kenya have sown the seeds for this crisis.

Contributing factors include endemic corruption, politicians being out of touch with voters, and some communities seeming to benefit more than others, he says.

Many commentators are also asking: "Where now for Kenya?" Kenya's Business Daily newspaper urges both President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to put aside their political ambitions for the sake of the country's future.

The paper warns that ending the killings and horrific attacks on innocent Kenyans should be a national priority. If this doesn't happen soon Kenya could "descend into the never ending attacks and revenge attacks that will further exacerbate the country's descent into another Somalia".

"Kenya is much more important than the political ambitions of both Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga and those around them," the paper says.

For the Daily Nation, political finger-pointing is also grounds for serious concern.

"This is not a time to be arguing over who won; it is the time [to] acknowledge that no presidency is worth the lives of the innocent," the paper says.

Commentators across Africa are also watching Kenya with keen eyes.

Uganda's Monitor Online worries that the violence in Kenya has the potential to "ruin the whole region".

As a crucial land and sea gateway to the rest of the world for Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, southern Sudan and parts of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya is a regional linchpin. Unrest there has serious implications for the economies of East African nations, and the livelihoods of millions of poor Africans living within them.

Further afield, the South African newspaper Business Day thinks that events in Kenya give all South Africans food for thought. As one of Africa's most stable democracies unravels, the paper believes there are important lessons for South Africa to learn about the importance of regular elections, freedom of expression, tolerance of dissent and the elimination of corruption.

And yet, despite the violence, the paper also believes there is reason for cautious optimism. Though the words 'ethnic cleansing' are being used, the paper believes that "it would be a mistake to assume that a slide into anarchy and totalitarianism is inevitable".

"Unlike Rwanda and Burundi, Kenya is ethnically diverse, which, as in South Africa, makes it less likely that political conflict will degenerate into serious tribal divisions, or that there will be a military coup".

We can only hope that such words prove true.

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